Americans Are Reading Fewer Books Than Ever. Does That Matter in 2025?

Americans reported reading 12 books on average in 2022. That’s the lowest number since Gallup started polling on this in the 90s. Survey data from 2023 show nearly half of US adults didn't read—or listen to—even one book that year. It's no wonder; book reading has to compete with endless news feeds, social media sites, streaming services, and even podcasts for free time. Teachers are starting to worry about this. College professors report their incoming freshman seem unable to stick with long, complicated texts. At the high school level, teachers are taking novels off their curriculum entirely, sticking to excerpts and movie-versions of the classics.

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C.S. Lewis Book Club Extended Interview

Steve and Ashton from the IGF team are joined by BYU English professor Paul Westover and student Ruth Thomas. Together, they discuss C.S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed." In this book, C.S. Lewis openly reflects on the reality of life and death in the wake of his wife's tragic death. This book provides an honest account of the whirlwind that follows a loss—sometimes causing even the strongest believers to waver—and how one can regain their bearings after such disruption. Paul Westover joined the BYU faculty in 2008. His specialties are Romantic-era British literature and cultural history. Westover is co-editor of the Romantic Circles electronic critical edition of "William Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes" (2015) and of a volume called "Transatlantic Literature and Author-Love in the Nineteenth Century" (2016). He currently serves as Book Review Editor for the Journal of British Studies and as Graduate Coordinator for the English Department.

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Rev. Dr. John J. Thatamanil

For our 200th episode, Steve sat down with Rev Dr John J. Thatanamil in a wide-ranging conversation of how we know what we know and why we should trust other believers to know what they know. There's holy hymning, childhood memories, and an evaluation of lint brushes...

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Genesis Panel

Sit down with AJ Levine, Seemi Ghazi, Trey Ferguson, and James Early for a discussion about how Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities interpret the Genesis stories about Adam and Eve.

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Good Friday

Brandon Peterson shares his personal connection to Good Friday. Brandon Peterson is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Utah, in the Department of of World Languages & Cultures and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Philosophy. Brandon is also a parishioner at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City.

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